Film critic Roger Ebert dies at age 70

He was the first film critic to receive Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and first to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Pulitzer-winning legendary film critic Roger Ebert has died after losing his long battle with thyroid and salivary cancer. He was 70.

The revered US film buff and longtime Chicago Sun-Times contributor died on Thursday.

Ebert was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002 and during a hospital stay last year doctors discovered the return of cancerous cells in his body.

He announced his diagnosis on Tuesday, revealing he will be cutting back on his work as he battles the illness once more.

"The 'painful fracture' that made it difficult for me to walk has recently been revealed to be a cancer. It is being treated with radiation, which has made it impossible for me to attend as many movies as I used to... My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me...

"In addition to writing about movies, I may write about what it's like to cope with health challenges and the limitations they can force upon you. It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital... So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies," he wrote.

Ebert also battled cancer in his salivary glands, because of which he lost his ability to speak and could not eat solid foods due to invasive jaw surgery.

Ebert was considered one of the world's leading film critics thanks to his long-running 'At The Movies' review show, which he fronted from the early 1980s until 2006. He became the first film critic to receive the Pulitzer Prize in 1975 and the first to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Born in Illinois in 1942, the writer became editor and columnist for The Daily Illini at the University of Illinois. He began his professional career as a copy boy at the Sun-Times, and became the newspaper's movie critic at the age of 25.